Alien fighters bombard Earth’s ruins. Cannibalistic aerobics instructors hunt the wastes. The last free survivors struggle against starvation and enslavement. It’s become a world where friendship costs too dearly and heroics verge on suicide. One young man can’t resist either until a fed-up AI steals him off the planet. Alone with only a sarcastic, broken-down starship, he braves a whole new … braves a whole new verse full of strange new enemies and tech he barely understands.
Help and harm beset him from identical faces, forcing Earth’s last free scion to decide who he is, what he holds dear and just how far he’ll go to protect both…
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Aliens have invaded earth enslaving all humans. A few managed to escape but they are hunted down. He manages to escape but then he is taken by an alien ship who wants to use him for its own reasons. Will be be able to escape again?.Can he save his friends? See what will happen
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Fast-paced with plenty of action, I love this book/series. I was hooked immediately/from the start wanting to know what happens. This is beautifully written with an awesome cast of characters. I am looking forward to the next book in the series/by this author.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is my first time reading this author and I really enjoyed this book. I found the plot to be interesting and I didn’t want to put the book down once I had started reading it. The characters and the world the author has come up with are interesting and well described. It’s a great introduction to the series and I’m looking forward to reading more.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Scion of Conquered Earth by Michael J. Allen is a young adult science fiction novel, the first book in the Scion series. I absolutely love science fiction, and after reading the description, I thought I would love this book. Sadly this one wasn’t for me, being too odd and kind of claustrophobic for my tastes.
We view a dystopian near-future after an apocalyptic alien invasion through the eyes of The Teen — aka Maggot, later aka Alaric — a reluctant hero type with amnesia. When we first meet The Teen, he is running, through rotting corpses and decimated buildings, from cannibalistic lawyers and aerobics instructors. (Yes, you read that correctly.)
Then it gets odd. (Okay, let’s say the oddness amplifies) Scion of Conquered Earth is confusing in many places. The post-apocalyptic world-building left a lot to be desired. A better foundation of what has happened and how it has become what it has would have been helpful to frame the activities. I often felt lost, like I’d missed the preface that gave us an overview of where we are and why. Additionally the book jumps ahead a lot, and doesn’t explain the transitions at all, so as the reader you have to stop often and try to orient yourself. He’s in some building, then The Teen is a prisoner in a parking lot next to (the same?) building, then he’s running through rubble, then at a train and then *boom* we’re in Colorado. After a while I stopped stopping, and just let myself be confused, hoping it would all make sense later. And it did, to a small degree, and I get where the author was going with our unconsciously unreliable narrator, but could it have been handled more stylistically and methodically? I vote yes.
Also oddly, there was a lot of gore that seemed unnecessary and, in my otherwise horror- and gore-loving mind, did not enhance the effectiveness of the story. It may seem like a powerful example of the unspeakable to force a starving captive to eat his own vomit, which came up when he found out the food was actually another prisoner, but honestly, it was too much and just came across as gimmicky. And gross. Very, very gross.
The narrator of the audio version, A. W. Dickson, did well with the content, though his attempts at distinguishing between characters and minor accents left a lot to be desired. He made a good effort with the female voices, something that is no easy feat for most male narrators. I want to recognize that it must have been difficult for Dickson to resist glossing over grammatical errors, but it seems he read true to the written word, mistakes and all.
The ending leaves us with a cliffhanger, which I am never happy with. Each novel should always wrap its own plots, even if it leaves an opening for a sequel. In my opinion, leaving most everything open is a cheap attempt to manipulate readers into going for the next book. If an author wants people to continue the series, then give them quality writing and great characters they can’t help but follow.
I received this audiobook from Audiobook Empire in exchange for an honest review. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.